Nintendo is to appeal a recent ruling by the Paris Criminal Court in favour of DS flash cart manufacturers.
The platform holder took French firm Divineo to court for producing DS flash carts that enable users to play non-authorised games and media on the portable, but last week the judge in the case sided with the defendant, ruling that companies creating such devices for the system weren’t violating the law.
EA CEO John Riccitiello believes that there are now over a billion gamers worldwide, with the online space largely responsible for the pastime’s explosion in popularity in recent years.
I love Italy. I mean, I’ll admit, I don’t know much about it. I’ve only been there once, on my honeymoon with my wife, and you can imagine I was pretty distracted. For example, by figuring out how to order an espresso at the corner store to fend off jet lag. Or watching the Vespas whiz down tiny side streets in Rome. Or staring at a woman who was begging by a church, cradling a kid who either was or was acting close to death, and wondering, “Wow, how many euros should I give for that?”
The UK government is expected to reject the idea of introducing tax relief for the domestic games industry.
Chancellor Alistair Darling’s pre-budget report will not include measures aimed at providing tax relief for the sector, according to a Guardian report.
The news will come as a massive blow to the industry, which contributes more to the UK economy than the government-aided film industry.
Free-to-play MMO firm Nexon America has announced Won Il Sue as vice-president of business development. He will be responsible for managing Nexon America's strategic partnerships as well as expanding the company's game development channels.
"Won joins us with an amazing understanding of Nexon and the online gaming industry," said Daniel Kim, Nexon America's CEO. "He will be instrumental in our continuing operation expansions and help us work more effectively with business partners and game developers.”
343 Industries has announced that Kojima Productions’ music composer, Sotaro Tojima, has joined Microsoft’s Halo franchise development company.
A simple announcement of the position was made via 343’s Twitter account: “We're excited to announce our newest member of the 343 family, Audio Director, Sotaro Tojima from Kojima Productions!”
Electronic Arts CEO John Riccitiello believes that if a publisher can offer compelling downloadable content, people who pirates games could be persuaded to buying the original product.
Market Research firm Insight Media has released details of a study that predicts the 3D gaming market is poised to grow from “a handful of 3D-capable displays and a few thousand gamers, to an expected worldwide market of over 40 million 3D-capable displays by 2014.”
Microsoft’s internal development studio, Turn 10, has said that its Xbox 360-exclusive racing game Forza Motorsport 3 sold one million copies in its first month of release.
According to the studio the Forza community has collectively logged over 6.6 million hours playing online in over 64 million connected sessions. Other fun facts from developer say that 590 million miles (or 952 million kilometers) have also been driven in the game to date.
Confirming recent rumours, Sony has announced that PSP Minis, the range of downloadable, bite-sized games that launched for the handheld in October, will be made available for PS3 before Christmas.
The service will be introduced to Sony's home console via an optional system software update, version 3.15, later this month.
Ubisoft believes that new online and in-game service Uplay can help it establish a stronger connection with its consumers.
“One of the problems of large scale publishers with lots of different titles is that they don’t necessarily have an identity or connection to the consumer,” Josh Milligan, director of digital marketing for Ubisoft San Francisco, told us.
God Of War creator David Jaffe has slammed the methods employed by the Australian classification board to rate games.
"There's a government board and if they say it's too offensive, in that case there's no fight to fight — it is what it is," he told the audience at the Game Connect: Asia Pacific conference in Melbourne, according to IGN.
In the second part of our look at CCP's Dust 514 (read part one here), creative director Atli Mar Sveinsson elaborates on how the game will intersect with the world of Eve Online, with Eve's corporations ordering battles in Dust to claim control of planets.
I have a special power. I don’t know how or exactly when it happened, but for as long as I can remember, I have been able to predict video game review scores.
John Donne espoused that we are all connected and I think that we are all the better for it. Having connections whether familial, social or professional enriches all that we do and extends, supports and challenges us.
I have been thinking recently about the way my learning has changed now that I am no longer in a school setting and how much I relied on the people in my school staff to bounce ideas off, to rant to, to use the experience of and to laugh with. Now that I no longer have a physical staffroom to use I have found myself using the skills and knowledge of a different set of people in a very different way. I have a virtual staffroom, open 24hrs a day containing a set of people from all over the world, with a huge array of skills and experience which I can tap into, and who generously share their learning. I use Twitter. There, I’ve said it and it doesn’t make me a bad person!
One of the first people I was in contact with in my very early days of twitter was Caroline Breyley, the headteacher of Burravoe Primary School on the Island of Yell, the second largest of the Shetland Isles.
She and her class were considering the use of Wild Earth: African Safari for the Wii and wondered if it would be a worthwhile context for learning. Through the work they have shared with me it is clear that they have been involved in a very engaging, motivating and successful piece of learning. I had the great privilege of meeting the children online at the tail end of last week. We set up a Glowmeet and through the use of this technology children over 400 miles away, including at least one flight and a ferry, could share the fantastic work they had done with me in real time and get immediate feedback. Go and visit the Burravoe Primary School blog, read about life in their school and read the “Brilliant Story” by Charlotte in p3.
Through the use of technology available to those in Scottish Education our children have access to an immediate national audience for their work, Glow groups, glow meet, CANVAS and a host of blogs allow our children the opportunity to share their work and receive feedback . We should all be sharing our practice and seeking feedback on the work we do and providing constructive feedback on the work of others. We cannot afford to be islands.
Brazil’s government could reportedly move to outlaw the creation, importation and distribution of “offensive” videogames.
The measure was raised in a bill drafted by Senator Valdir Raupp, which was subsequently approved by the South American country’s Education Commission of the Senate, reports Brazilian website UOL (via GamePolitics).
Game Developers Conference Canada organiser Think Services has issued a call for lecture submissions for next year’s event.
Taking place at the Vancouver Convention Centre in Vancouver, British Columbia from May 6-7, 2010, the second edition of the industry focused event will feature insights on new distribution models, managing established franchises and developing global titles.
In a new report to the US congress, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has praised the videogame industry for continuing “to have the strongest self-regulatory code" of all the entertainment sectors.
Level 5’s Professor Layton And The Flute Of Malevolent Destiny debuted atop the Japanese software chart during the week ended November 29.
The DS title sold 306,000 copies – slightly more than the rest of the top ten combined – according to data from sales tracker Media Create (via el33tonline).
Format: Web
Thanks, NASA. In return for just a handful of the brainier Nazis and an ever-diminishing chunk of the federal budget, you’ve given us non-stick frying pans, memory foam, and those funny pens that can write underwater, which they used to sell in the Innovations catalogue.
PSP Minis, the range of downloadable, bite-sized games that launched for Sony’s handheld in October, will reportedly be playable on PS3 by the end of the year.
[Update: Developer Rebellion says it's disappointed with the ruling, but that it won't release a "sanitised" version to secure release]
Sega’s Aliens vs Predator has been refused classification in Australia, outlawing the sale of the Rebellion developed action title.
Format: PC:
Release: 1993
Publisher: EA
Developer: Bullfrog
Québec minister of economic development, innovation and export trade, Clément Gignac, has announced that US-based THQ will open a facility in Québec. THQ’s Montréal studio will employ around 60 people in the first year and ramp up to 400 within five years, says the firm.
According to The NPD Group’s Kids and Gaming 2009 study, of all kids in the U.S. aged 2-17, 82 percent (55.7 million) are gamers.
Of these gamers, 9.7 million are ages 2-5, which represents the smallest group, with 12.4 million aged 9-11, representing the largest.